A Los Angeles-based nonprofit opened an early childhood center specifically for children whose families are seeking asylum in the United States. This center is one of the only places available where migrant children can play and learn for free.

No one has owned a better vantage point to witness Franmil Reyes’ unflinching abuse of baseballs than Padres bench coach Rod Barajas. He’s seen it across Triple-A, when he managed El Paso. He’s seen it in the big leagues, from San Francisco to Seattle to St. Louis.

So many sizzling darts disappearing into seats, from batting practice to big spots late in big games.

What if Reyes was invited to uncork those massive hacks the night before the All-Star Game? What if that blend of oversized personality and swing came together in front of millions on national TV? The smile spread across his face.

“He’s a freak with the bat in his hands,” Barajas said. “If we can get that guy in the Home Run Derby, America’s going to fall in love with this kid. Baseball’s going to fall in love with this kid.”

Advertisement

Just five Padres have dug in for a Derby, starting with Steve Garvey’s two-homer appearance in the event’s 1985 debut. In 1992 at Jack Murphy Stadium, Gary Sheffield and Fred McGriff combined for seven. In 2009, Adrian Gonzalez hit a pair. When the All-Star Game visited Petco Park three years ago, Wil Myers hammered 10 in the updated format.

None, though, would be more intriguing than still new-to-the-scene Reyes. All those before him had national reputations, including Myers after a Rookie of the Year run with the Rays.

At just 23, though, Reyes remains a relative baseball-bashing unknown. He’s still finding his footing, in the batter’s box and the game itself. For a stretch this season, he shared home run-hitting air with 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich, 2017 World Series MVP George Springer and early NL MVP runaway favorite Cody Bellinger.

Reyes had struggled as of late, hitting 2-for-16 with six strikeouts on the most recent road trip. In his first at-bat Friday against the Marlins, Reyes clawed back from an 0-2 count to dig out a pitch low in the zone for a 362-foot clothesline to left that pushed him back into baseball’s Top 10 with 16.

Advertisement

“Watch his BP (batting practice) every day and you see a ball go somewhere you haven’t seen before,” Myers said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch.”

Padres reliever Brad Wieck, who also played with Reyes in El Paso, said his teammate hammered a BP shot off Petco’s giant video board in left field during the last home stand — the equivalent of the top of the Western Metal Supply Co. building. No one other than Hunter Renfroe is believed to have reached that type of rare landing spot in left.

Reyes, who owns the longest home run at Petco (479, vs. Braves last season) and also is tied for second, also deposited one over the Big Dog House the other direction — a shot to right unmatched in El Paso’s park until this season.

“The dude definitely has light-tower power,” Wieck said.

What type of damage could the right-handed Reyes, a power hitter to all fields, do in a Derby? That would be one of the most fascinating what-ifs when July 8 in Cleveland rolls around.

To understand what he thinks is possible, Reyes is asked whether he could hit a ball 500 feet or crunch 50 in a season — the franchise’s high-swatter mark owned by Greg Vaughn during the 1998 run to the World Series.

“Of course I can get there, and more,” Reyes said. “I know what I’ve got. One day I will show that.”

Only one player owns two home runs in the Top 10 longest hit during the last two seasons. It’s not red-hot Yelich, gilded stars Mike Trout or Bryce Harper, or exit velocity king Giancarlo Stanton.

Advertisement

It’s Reyes, who also hit a 477-footer a season ago off of five-time All-Star Jon Lester of the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

The evolution of his big swing came around the 2016 All-Star break. Before then, Reyes hit a home run in 1.9 percent of his at-bats. After, it skyrocketed to 5.9 percent.

“My mentality, it changed,” Reyes said. “I was just playing the game for fun. Now, I care about things. Every judgment I make (about at-bats), I do it with sense. Before I was just playing, nothing in my head.”

Others noticed, too.

“I’m more impressed with the discipline of his BP, to be honest,” catcher Austin Hedges said. “That guy could hit 100 homers in BP every day if he wanted to. But he does his work on base hits to right field. And really in BP, every single one of his homers is center to right field.

“The most impressive part to me, he’s really disciplined. That’s the reason he can be such a good hitter, not just a power guy.”

Barajas estimated he’s seen Reyes tattoo a ball 520 feet this season.

“Without a doubt,” he said. “I know for a fact nobody’s hit a ball that far in a game (of ours this season). What he’s done in batting practice in all these stadiums we’ve been to, I promise you nobody else has done it.”

Advertisement

There’s far more than the largeness of his swing. Reyes is a plate-manager masquerading as a rocket-launch technician.

“It’s short when it needs to be short,” Barajas said. “It’s long if he’s fooled on a pitch, he can create that length and keep the bat in the zone. You see this guy hit the ball out from different positions, different stances. If he makes contact out front he always has the chance to do some damage.

“Freak power. Freak eye-hand coordination. It’s like having a contact hitter able to hit it 500 feet. That’s rare.”

And about those 50 homers in a season?

“Somebody asked me that exact question and my answer was, ‘Yes, when he stops trying to hit 50 home runs in the big leagues,’ ” Barajas said. “That’s his problem. He tries to hit the ball 520 feet, like he’s capable of doing, instead of making hard, solid contact out front.

“Once he stops trying to hit all those home runs, this guy’s going to hit 50.”

Another incentive of a Derby trip: A new bonus structure will award the winner $1 million, which is nearly double Reyes’ current salary of $571,000.

“If I win it,” Reyes responded to that question, popping a big smile, “I’d be very happy. I do a lot of things with that money for my family.”

Would the spotlight cause Reyes to quiver? There’s no way to know until someone is put in that position. There’s big-moment DNA in Reyes these days, however, with 12 of his 16 homers coming with the Padres tied or trailing.

“He’d be great at it,” Padres manager Andy Green said. “He’s got the personality for it. I think a lot of people would fall in love with him watching him do it.”

C’mon, baseball. Make it happen.

==

Padres in Home Run Derby

Five Padres have participated in the Home Run Derby.

2016: In the game at Petco Park, Wil Myers hit 10 but failed to reach the second round of the bracketed format when the Reds’ Adam Duvall recorded 11. Myers’ most memorable moment came when he was plunked by his brother Beau, who pitched to him.

2009: At Busch Stadium, Adrian Gonzalez hit just two homers but the National League routed its counterparts thanks to 23 from the Brewers’ Prince Fielder.

1985: In the event’s debut, Steve Garvey hit two as his NL team of Dave Parker, Dale Murphy, Ryne Sandberg and Jack Clark were edged by one by the AL (Jim Rice, Eddie Murray, Carlton Fisk, Tom Brunansky and Cal Ripken Jr.)

FIBA will look at adjusting travel demands on teams at the next World Cup, after this tournament in China led to many complaints about the distances that nations participating in the knockout stages had to cover without much time to prepare for games.